Instead of Stretching Canvas ?

[davidh202]

    I have a decorator client who I am doing a pretty sizeable  quantity printing and framing job for.She has received a 6' x 9' arial photo on canvas (rolled), that is to be installed in a gov't building. I have not seen it yet and don't know if it is even coated for protection.
    She is about to have her carpenter make the stretchers for her (even though I am a framer) and she has asked for my assistance to mount it to the stretchers since she is not confident in his ability to do that part.
   Concern is that it will be pokable if mounted as a traditional canvas and hung, so I suggested topping the entire 6x9 area  above the stretcher frame with gatorboard, and then stretching to provide a solid backing.
   My wife said that we should forgo the stretchers and boards alltogether and just glue the canvas to the wall as a mural or wallpaper would go on.
   Now that she suggested that (2 heads are better than one), I really cannot see the advantage of making a piece that large look like a dimensional gallery wrap. The carpenter can then  fashion a frame from decorative moulding around the perimeter to give a more finished appearance.
This would indeed solve a multitude of problems if the powers that be are ageeable to a permanent mounting solution.

   If I do this, what would be the best adhesive to use that will not cause problems with the canvas? Will regular wallpaper paste work or will the moisture cause problems? Suggestions for an appropriate adhesive would be greatly appreciated.
David

[Justan]

The 6’x9’ size will make finding a 1 piece substrate a little difficult.

I mount a most of my canvas prints to a rigid substrate called mighty core. It’s like gator board but less expensive. I can get this in up to 4’x8’.

I use Raphael’s Miracle Muck to bond the canvas to the board.

You can glue the canvas to the wall but you may encounter problems getting it to cure properly and lay flat in a vertical position.

[bill t.]

I very successfully Miracle-Mucked a 44" wide by 90" tall coated canvas to a matte-painted wallboard surface.  Was very easy, we taped up the edge of the rolled-on-a-tube print at the top in registration, coated the wall quick-like-a-bunny (two people trying to stay inside the masking tape marks), rolled down the canvas,  and patted it down with cotton gloved hands.  Wiped off the small amount of glue that got onto the print surface with wet towels (the canvas had better be coated for this kind of treatment).  Didn't have to deal with the excess glue at the sides which was later covered up with some Home Depot moulding.  It's still up and looking great 3 years later, fully a year past my promised lifetime.  No apparent problems whatsoever.  But would not care to do this with concrete, gloss painted walls, rough surfaces etc.

Should add that the wall was a temporary interior wall, so all thoughts of removing the print were irrelevant which is truly fortunate.  However, it is theoretically possible to re-active Muck with a heat gun and peel off the print while hot.  You need about 160F, I believe.  I tried one removal experiment with a Gator-mounted canvas and recovered the print without damage (except for an almost invisible layer of Muck), although the Gator wound up with a slight permanent warp.

[langier]

My framer and I just completed about 600 prints for an installation, up to 40x70 inches using foam board with heat-activated (dry mount coated) adhesive. I know we were able to get some 48x96 boards and the supplier tells us with enough lead time, it can be coated on a number of substrates.

The canvas can be easily peeled from the board if it gets damaged, but seems so far to hold up well. The coated canvas and foam board seems to have no issues when mounting, even if left in the press for 10-15 minutes, though we do have an issue with the maximum size since the throat of the press is the limiting factor for us.

I looked into a roller press to do our mounting but with little space and not wanting to spend $5000, we figured we'd simply limit the maximum print size and that's fine.

[a.lorge]

I vote for the stretching option in that situation. 

At most, It's going to take a couple hours to stretch something that size, and you end up with a product that is lightweight, easy to hang, and removable.  If something goes wrong in the stretching process, you can just pop the staples out and start again.  Once glue and walls get involved, I think you're opening the door for a catastrophic cluster&$^&.  One other option I was thinking might make sense if you are worried about "pokeability" is to hang it like a big flag or a banner.  Hem the edges and make a fabric loop at the top and bottom to thread through some heavy duty dowels (like these)

[cottagehunter]

Please keep us informed of how your project goes and any photos you can supply of the installation, possibly the assembly as well.
Sounds interesting. I won`t be attempting this but am interested in expanding my knowledge.

Pierre